Throwing Toasters "burnt"
Reviewed  June 5, 2000  by Eric Houg
Lat messed with June 9, 2000

Score: 82  100 means excellent.  Scores range from 0 to infinity, infinity being best.
   The next closest score so far was Power Salad's "force does not work on a crustacean" at 90 points.  That album had 63 minutes of recordings and the goodness of the songs in the rankings did not fall of as fast as it does on "burnt" with only 28 minutes of stuff.  On the other hand, the "burnt" songs are short wham bam thank you ma'am concentrated goodness.  Perhaps the live show would score higher, but I just do CDs here.  So 82 points, mmmkay?

Comments
    Unfortunately only one of the four band members was present at the recording of this album.  Yet the recording sounds very good, fidelity and musically.  The only band member who made it to the show, Grant Baciocco,  plays lots of acoustic guitar multipart notes, chords, bass, melody, whatever, and it sounds like there's hardly anything missing from the songs.  Musical words come out of his mouth that aren't strained or off key, all while performing a live performance.  I am so jealous.  Maybe he ate a guitar pill. :)  He does remind me of Henry Phillips.  "burnt" is not laugh out loud funny for me but it is smile worthy.

The songs in order from approximately best to approximately worst.
     Best
track
number
16.  Debbie  02:21
You know how this song goes, don't you?  It's this hyper love / stalking sicko love song.

09.  A.T.M.  02:19
A catchy tune and good humor that makes observations about automated teller machine etiquette.

12.  skrewu  02:15
Pretty music, funny singing, attitude needs adjustment.

06.  New Hampshire  01:52
The funny thing is that he mentioned New Hampshire a few times but I didn't think he was really going to sing anything about New Hampshire until near the end.  Comedy takes a back seat to the really hot guitar playing in this song.

14.  wrestler's love  01:21
What kind of whup-ass love do pro wrestlers have?

02.  Living @ home  02:14
Describes attributes of your basic Star Wars / sci-fi geek who lives with his mom.

07.  bad impressions  00:47  That was a pretty cool quickie where he did some celebrity impressions based on (ignoring) the suggestions from the audience.

The line between songs I might want to get the CD out and listen to



and songs I wouldn't get the CD out for.

04.  our love is like  01:34
Our love is like... a few far out analogies of pain and suffering, along with some direct comments that our love is not very good, in case you didn't understand the analogies.  I think for humor's sake direct comments are better left unsaid in favor of more subtle analogies.

11.  Grandma's song  01:43
Pleasing enough in the music department.  The lyrics need more work in the absurdity department.

15.  she's like  01:39
She's like... more analogies.

19.   (The Ballad Of) Chang Shao Pang  02:42 (Shhhh) HIDDEN TRACK!!!
Song about a guy on The World's Most Incredible Medical Miracles.  I see why they would hide this track.

08.  together forever  02:09
This song was boring, so I was bort.
     Worst

Not really songs or anything, just holding the show together:
01.  Let's rock shall we  00:23
03.  obvious by their absence  00:30
05.  lacking energy  00:50
10.  doing a live CD  00:40
13.  intimate crowd  00:34
17.   (stupid track tricks) -04:10 / Track 17  0:14
18.  (stupid track tricks) -05:20 / intro  01:39

Tracks listed in track order
01.  Let's rock shall we  00:23
02.  Living @ home  02:14
03.  obvious by their absence  00:30
04.  our love is like  01:34
05.  lacking energy  00:50
06.  New Hampshire  01:52
07.  bad impressions  00:47
08.  together forever  02:09
09.  A.T.M.  02:19
10.  doing a live CD  00:40
11.  Grandma's song  01:43
12.  skrewu  02:15
13.  intimate crowd  00:34
14.  wrestler's love  01:21
15.  she's like  01:39
16.  Debbie  02:21
17.   (stupid track tricks) -04:10 / Track 17  0:14
18.  (stupid track tricks) -05:20 / intro  01:39
19.  (The Ballad Of) Chang Shao Pang 02:42 (Shhhh) HIDDEN TRACK!!!

Total playing time: 37:26
Total playing time not counting silence: 27:56

Throwing Toasters websites:  http://www.throwingtoasters.com